Personal & Service Robots Articles, Stories & News

The collaborative workspace includes the labs and equipment needed to help young robotics companies develop and scale their concepts and prototypes. Located at 12 Channel Street in Boston's Seaport Innovation District, the organization is leasing nearly 15,000 sq. ft. and will develop an additional 25,000 sq. ft. MassRobotics is holding a ribbon cutting ceremony on Feb. 17, 2017 to officially open the space.

Lynne ODonnell for Sci-Tech Today: Inspired by his belief that human beings are essentially terrified of robots, Ben Russell set about charting the evolution of automatons for an exhibition he hopes will force people to think about how androids and other robotic forms can enhance their lives.
Robots, says Russell, have been with us for centuries -- as "Robots," his exhibit opening Wednesday at London's Science Museum, shows.
From a 15th century Spanish clockwork monk who kisses his rosary and beats his breast in contrition, to a Japanese "childoid" newsreader, created in 2014 with lifelike facial expressions, the exhibition tracks the development of robotics and mankind's obsession with replicating itself. Cont'd...

The top-notch R&D team at CloudMinds, a China-based firm specialized in the research, development and manufacturing of cloud intelligence (CI)-based applications, has created a CI ecosystem thanks to investments from several investors, including SoftBank Group Corp., the Japanese multinational telecommunications and Internet firm.

SMP Robotics Systems Corp. (http://smprobotics.com) a manufacturer of autonomous mobile robots, today announced a new partnership with Altech Co. Ltd, a Tokyo based trading company for industrial machinery, providing its national and international customers with industrial machines and equipment boasting the latest technologies from Europe and United States.

Ford Motor Company announces it is investing $1 billion during the next five years in Argo AI, an artificial intelligence company, to develop a virtual driver system for the automaker's autonomous vehicle coming in 2021 - and for potential license to other companies.
Founded by former Google and Uber leaders, Argo AI is bringing together some of the most experienced roboticists and engineers working in autonomy from inside and outside of Ford. The team of experts in robotics and artificial intelligence is led by Argo AI founders Bryan Salesky, company CEO, and Peter Rander, company COO. Both are alumni of Carnegie Mellon National Robotics Engineering Center and former leaders on the self-driving car teams of Google and Uber, respectively.
"The next decade will be defined by the automation of the automobile, and autonomous vehicles will have as significant an impact on society as Ford's moving assembly line did 100 years ago," said Ford President and CEO Mark Fields. Full Press Release:

-Ford is investing $1 billion during the next five years in Argo AI, combining Fords autonomous vehicle development expertise with Argo AIs robotics experience and startup speed on artificial intelligence software - all to further advance autonomous vehicles
-Founded by former Google and Uber leaders, Argo AI will include roboticists and engineers from inside and outside of Ford working to develop a new software platform for Fords fully autonomous vehicle coming in 2021; through their equity participation, Argo AI employees will share in the startups growth
-Investment in Argo AI strengthens Fords leadership in bringing self-driving vehicles to market in the near term and creates technology that could be licensed to others in the future

The sixth annual Robotics Alley Conference & Expo will once again highlight how robotics and automation are changing the way we live and work. This year, it will be held Feb. 28 - March 1 at The Depot Minneapolis. The event will feature experts on how new technologies will impact shopping, travel, health care, agriculture, manufacturing and more.

XTC Finals - Necker Island, British Virgin Islands - The race to Necker Island culminates with an unprecedented, photo-finish judging: Separated by less than half a percent in point total, Vantage Robotics is named of winner of Extreme Tech Challenge 2017!

The firm, Agility Robotics, is based in Albany, Oregon, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; already has several of its first customers; will license some technologies first developed at OSU, and plans to build on this scientific foundation in their product research and development.

INTERPOL World provides a strategic platform for mutually beneficial collaborations, information sharing, innovations and solutions in response to security threats. It encapsulates the vision of a safer world through a multi-stakeholder approach by engaging the government, private and public sectors to address future security menaces.

Nick Heath for TechRepublic: Think it's tricky to build and program a robot arm? Think again.
Powered by the Raspberry Pi, the MeArm Pi is a robot arm designed to be simple enough that kids aged 11+ can build and program it.
The lightweight plastic arm, which can pick up small objects such as Lego bricks, comes as a kit that keeps the number of screws to a minimum and is relatively straightforward to assemble using the included hex keys. It can be controlled via the Pi, either using joysticks attached to the included Pi HAT add-on board or by programming it from the Pi. Cont'd...

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